R.S. Thomas is the author of more than 20 volumes of poetry. The variety of his themes - disappearing ways of life, man's relationship with God, cultural imperialism and the decline of the Welsh language, art in the last 100 years, nature and the environment - has brought him an audience from a wide cross-section of society. This collection of essays was specially commissioned to celebrate his 80th birthday. The subjects range across the Thomas canon, from his Welsh farmer persona, Iago Prytherch, to a comparison with Dylan Thomas, to his unsteady relations with God. Contributors include Walford Davies, Rowan Williams, Tony Brown and Helen Vendler.